Requiescence

A most solemn, sad, melancholic game with deeply unsettling, yet subtle horror elements. There is a mystique to its atmosphere, something dark and elusive no other game has. Which is surprising, really, because the character sprites suggest an altogether different experience. They do not fit the rest of the game's components at all. Nonetheless, there is beauty captured in this work: it feels intimate and revealing… graceful even, in its sorrow and despondency. A reader truly feels as if they were lost in a cathedral's bays and corridors. This effect is then underlined by the heady, plaintive tunes. One feels incredibly alone when reading this.

Honestly... I didn't expect this game to be this thought provoking and having rather great lessons... Some of which even attributed to me... Even now. That coupled with few lines of humor here and there? ([u]Actual[/u] funny humor...!) You got yourself an interested reader! Sure this has "quick get together" romance... But after reading "These Nights in Cairo"... I understood why. Also... This game actually EXPLAINS why it happens the way it does. Kudos game. Kudos. I liked the characters and actually [u]wanted[/u] to learn about what makes them tick and what darkness they carried. The twist with the secret character is good and even his "secret" (what he traded) made me go "waaaaaa...?!" I had the r18+ for visual entertainment and well... When those scenes occurred, in the back of my mind I thought "this would be a great time to get attacked"... Yet at the same time... They didn't know what would happen next, so I just tried not to think how many "spirits" were watching them... XD And no, I am in no way shape or form making fun of lewd scenes. They were GOOD. *nods* Oh and this game has an intro too! Didn't expect that. Foreboding tune to accompany it as …

Pros: Choices have profound effects on the story, nice art, good mood music and hours of fun story. Cons: A few slightly misogynistic jokes as is typical for most games (comparing mc to 'damsel in distress', shy 'like a girl" etc..) . Overall: A very fun game.

A pretty good visual novel, and really reasonably priced at 10 dollars. I didn't think the story was anything mind-blowing or unique, but it was entertaining enough to keep me interested (although, honestly, I wasn't a fan of the secret route, I liked the first two routes a lot better). I also wish that the choices had more of an effect; the first few choices determine what route you end up on, and then every other choice is meaningless, besides the final choice which puts you on a good or bad ending. Ultimately that's not a HUGE deal to me bc I also enjoy kinetic novels, but it seems a little silly to have these choices here that don't do anything. The art's good, as you can see from the screenshots, although the sprites and backgrounds clash with one another somewhat. Honestly, the most impressive thing about this VN is the sound design - and I'm not saying this to bring down the other aspects, I mean that genuinely the music, sound, and voice acting was way more immersive here than in a lot of other VNs that I've played. The voice actors all did a really good job (it says "partial" voice acting but there's enough that it's practically full), and I liked the atmospheric sound e…

Requiescence is an emotionally driven visual novel that leans heavily into atmosphere, character development, and introspective storytelling, offering an experience that feels deliberately slow, reflective, and deeply personal. Set in a dark fantasy world shaped by loss and uncertainty, the game follows Kymil, a young ice mage whose quiet determination to understand his uncle’s mysterious death draws him into the shadowed halls of a cathedral filled with secrets. What initially appears to be a straightforward investigation gradually unfolds into a layered narrative about grief, identity, faith, and connection, with the supernatural elements serving more as emotional metaphors than simple plot devices. The story takes its time establishing tone and context, inviting the player to sink into its mood rather than rushing toward dramatic payoffs. The narrative structure emphasizes choice and consequence, but in a subtle, character-focused way rather than through constant branching decisions. Choices often shape Kymil’s relationships and emotional outlook more than immediate plot direction, which makes their impact feel quietly meaningful rather than overtly mechanical. Over the course …

I've played through every route on the itch.io version, which is why my Steam time is weird, which works, because this review is a bit weird. I would recommend this VN with a great number of caveats, including that the writing is quite bad, the art - what little isn't just blurred real-world photographs on repeat - is pretty bad, the music is occasionally passable, the voice acting is at best fine and at worst just really bad, the foley is dubious, the characters aren't interesting and have little to no chemistry, and the overall plot is, at best, fine. Not to mention one character is just very bad and obvious Fenris Dragon Age fanfiction. But outside that, if you want a kind of brainless m/m fantasy VN, one okay route (the secret one), and some interesting bad endings, then yes, this may be for you. I cannot overemphasize how incredibly bad the writing in this is. It reads like a first attempt at writing a fantasy novel, which never saw an edit to cut down at least half of the repetition. Many parts of this are pages of text that could have been said in a sentence or two. There's a lot of vague hand-waving to generic fantasy concepts you've seen in the past without any real descr…